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New York City grand jury’s refusal to indict an officer accused of killing Eric Garner is cause for more protest; police terror against Blacks and mass incarceration must end, say Greens

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Green Party leaders and activists expressed support for ongoing protests across the U.S., especially for nonviolent protesters facing brutal police retaliation, in the wake of a St. Louis County grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

The protesters’ anger was further inflamed by Wednesday’s breaking news that a New York City grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer accused of killing Eric Garner, an unarmed 43-year-old father of six, in Staten Island by putting him in an illegal chokehold.

Greens called for an aggressive investigation by the U.S. Justice Department of both the Ferguson and Staten Island incidents and the handling of the Ferguson case by St. Louis County officials, and demanded that the U.S. conform to international human-rights standards on the use of force by police, citing a Nov. 28 review from the U.N. Committee Against Torture (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/28/us-usa-un-torture-idUSKCN0JC1BC20141128).

Green Party members have participated in and helped organize many of the rallies and protests in reaction to a steady flow of news reports about police killings of young Black men. Continue Reading →